The Effect of the European Economic Crisis on Different Forms of Prejudice

It is regularly found that poor economic conditions are related to higher levels of prejudice toward ethnic minorities and immigrants (Quillian, 1995). The realistic threat theory predicts that people feel threatened by groups with whom they are in competition over scarce resources (e.g. jobs). It is unclear, however, whether the economic crisis only activates prejudice toward economically threatening outgroups, or whether it is related to feelings of prejudice toward all sorts of outgroups, i.e. generalized prejudice. The central research questions of the paper are whether the observed relation between economic development and anti-immigrant attitudes is intensified by the current economic crisis, and whether feelings of prejudice generalize to non-economically threatening outgroups (e.g. homosexuals) as well. We use data from the European Social Survey (2002-2012), as the recent addition of the new 2012-wave makes this dataset especially suited for the research questions. Advanced multilevel modelling will be applied.